CLIPPING AND SINGEING 281 



clipper had to speedily reduce his demands, while he was finally extinguished 

 by the invention of Clarke's patent machine. The patent having long 

 since run out, and the competition of trade made these instruments so cheap 

 as to be within the reach of every one, no stableman worthy of the name 

 will confess his inability to clip a horse. Mr. Clarke's invention has been 

 a boon to every one connected with horses, unless exception be made to the 

 men of scissors and comb, few of whom remain in active service. 



When the machines cost a guinea and but few men could use them well, 

 many gentlemen were content to pay a guinea for a well-clipped horse, but 

 at the present time if a man has to be hired for the purpose he will usually 

 be satisfied with five shillings for the task and use his own machine. 



Some of the cheap ones now in the market soon get out of order and fail 

 to accomplish their pui-pose, none so far as we are aware being so good as 

 those still supplied by the original maker. 



The general custom observed as to clipping is to delay the operation if 

 possible till the first week in October, and clip twice more before Christmas, 

 after which date it is not advisable to do more than singe off the long hairs 

 that sprout out late in the winter. If a horse must be clipped for any 

 special reason after the date named he should have additional clothing and 

 care till late in the spring, as he will almost certainly shed his coat badly 

 and rarely have a good sleek summer one, however well managed. 



Power machines driven by a wheel are employed in large studs, but as 

 yet are not generally adopted or indeed necessary for the private gentleman 

 owning but a few horses, and these well looked after with men having time 

 to clip with the ordinary instrument. 



While the process is going on, the horse ought to be clothed as fai as 

 possible, careful men removing only as much of the quarter piece as is sul- 

 ficient to expose the part they are working at and no more. As soon as 

 the whole body is gone over as well as the legs, the singeing lamp is lightly 

 passed over the surface, which will leave the hair burned to such an extent 

 as to require either washing or a sweat, which latter is generally adopted, in 

 the belief that it has a tendency to prevent cold. My own opinion is that 

 this is a fallacy, and that soap and water used quickly and rapidly, followed 

 up by a good strapping and the use of plenty of warm clothing, is far less 

 likely to chill the horse than the exhaustion consequent upon a sweat. I 

 have tried the plan repeatedly, and known it tried by others still more 

 frequently, but I have never heard of any ill effects resulting. Very often 

 a sweat is exceedingly inconvenient, either from the difficulty in getting 

 ground, as happens in towns, or from the infirm state of the legs. But 

 soap and water can always be obtained, and if carefully used there is not 

 the slightest danger attending them. Of course after the removal of a long 

 coat the skin requires an extra protection in-doors in the shape of a double 

 allowance of clothing, and it will be necessary to avoid standing still out-of- 

 doors, though, as I before remarked, on the whole the risk of taking cold by 

 horses worked hard enough to sweat them is less if they are clipped than 

 if they have their long coats on. 



Singeing requires less practice than clipping, but it cannot be done 

 without some little experience of its difficulties, and a novice generally 

 burns the skin as well as the hair. To keep a horse's coat in good order it 

 must be singed several times in the course of the autumn, beginning as soon 



